The waste collection, grounds maintenance and cleansing service contracts for the London Borough of Waltham Forest were coming to a close, so the council appointed us to support the decision on the future commissioning of the services.

Initially, we carried out a Commissioning Options Analysis, which saw us undertake waste collection modelling to support the future policy decisions for the service, including modelling the financial aspects of each option.

We subsequently produced the Procurement Strategy and Business Case based on the results of our modelling, which had concluded that outsourcing the services under a single contract would be the most effective solution.  The council elected to use the Competitive Dialogue procedure. We managed the implementation of the procurement process on behalf of the council reporting directly to the Waltham Forest’s project board.

After coordinating the development of the OJEU notice and the service specification, ensuring that they conformed to the Mayor of London’s Environment Strategy, we acted as the lead negotiator throughout the dialogue process and contributed to the evaluation of the submissions, focusing on the technical delivery and robustness of financial proposals.

We provided support in three key areas: project management, technical support, and procurement support. The effective design and controlled delivery of the procurement procedure contributed to maximising market competition and interest throughout the long procurement process.

Following the award of the contract to Urbaser Ltd, the council retained our services during the mobilisation of the services into the new Neighbourhoods Services Contract commencing in October 2019. The new service is an eight-year, £112m contract.

Jarlath Griffin, Director of Neighbourhoods at LB Waltham Forest, said:

“Eunomia provided technical and project management support to the Authority since July 2017.  The quality of the support provided has been exceptional.

“At the start of the project, Eunomia undertook a collections options analysis.  The output of this work provided evidence-based information that the Authority used to make policy changes to the waste collection service.

“Subsequently Eunomia undertook a commissioning options appraisal so that the Authority could identify the most suitable service delivery model following the expiry of the contracts. The assessment included financial modelling and qualitative and risk considerations for each commissioning option.  Having established that the Authority should continue with an outsourcing arrangement represented the best solution for the Authority, Eunomia produced a robust business case and procurement strategy in preparation for procurement.

“Since the start of the project, Eunomia has provided high-quality stakeholder engagement services, including reporting directly to the project board, leading the project team and providing regular updates to the CEO and political stakeholders.

“The Authority used the CD process to procure a new integrated neighbourhoods services contract.  Eunomia prepared all the procurement and contract documentation, which was current, relevant, and positively received by the market. The robust dialogue and negotiation strategy devised ensured that competition was maintained throughout the process. 

“The contract was awarded in February 2019 and Eunomia was retained as a trusted advisor during the mobilisation phase into the new contract.”